Loyal Piʻilani Garner
On November 15, 2001, Hawaiʻi lost one of its most beloved voices. Loyal Piʻilani Garner—singer, entertainer, and cultural touchstone—died after a two-year battle with colon cancer. She was 55 years old.
Born in Kalihi on September 28, 1946, Garner grew up between Waialua and ʻĀlewa Heights, moving through neighborhoods that shaped her easy local manner and deep connection to island audiences. A self-taught vocalist, she caught her first major break in 1966 while still attending the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, landing a demanding six-nights-a-week engagement at the Golden Dragon in the Hilton Hawaiian Village. It was the beginning of a career that would place her voice in hotel showrooms, living rooms, car radios, and community fundraisers across the islands.
By 1975, Garner had become a standout performer at the Canoe House at the Ilikai, and two years later she released her debut album, Hawaiʻi Today. The record introduced a style that would become her signature: emotionally direct, locally grounded, and effortlessly accessible. Over the next two decades she released six more solo albums, recording enduring favorites such as “Blind Man in the Bleachers,” “Mama, I Love You,” and the playful island classic “Shave Ice.”
Many residents also knew her voice from television and radio commercials, including long-running jingles for Cutter Ford and Windward Mall. But it was her work as host of the Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy telethon that earned her the affectionate nickname “the Lady of Love.” During one broadcast, after learning the fundraiser was in danger of missing its goal, Garner made an emotional on-air appeal for donations. The phones lit up, and the telethon ultimately surpassed its target—a moment still remembered as emblematic of her sincerity and persuasive warmth.
Central to Garner’s personal and professional world was her longtime companion and manager, Janice Ukauka. Ukauka worked closely with her for decades, helping guide her career while also sharing her life away from the stage. Their partnership was widely known within Hawaiʻi’s music community and remains an important part of Garner’s story and legacy.
In 1997, she helped form the supergroup Local Divas with Melveen Leed, Nohelani Cypriano, and Carole Kai. The collaboration brought together four powerhouse performers whose careers had unfolded alongside the rapid social and cultural changes of late-twentieth-century Hawaiʻi. Their partnership also reflected the increasingly visible role of women entertainers in shaping public life, nightlife, and popular culture in the islands—spaces that overlapped closely with LGBTQ community gathering places, music venues, and charitable events during the same period.
Garner was diagnosed with colon cancer in 1999 and initially given nine months to live. She continued performing and recording when she could, ultimately fighting the disease for two years. Friends and colleagues consistently described her as generous with her time, deeply professional, and guided by an unwavering love for music and people.
Her achievements were widely recognized. She won the Nā Hōkū Hanohano Award for Best Female Vocalist in both 1982 and 1993, and in 2007 the Hawaiʻi Academy of Recording Arts honored her posthumously with a Lifetime Achievement Award. She was also among the first established performers to spotlight rising local comedian Frank De Lima, helping introduce him to wider audiences.
Garner died just two weeks before a scheduled holiday concert with the Local Divas. Rather than cancel, her collaborators transformed the event into a tribute performance, poignantly titled This One’s For You, Loyal.
Within Hawaiʻi’s musical history—and within the broader tapestry of communities that sustained nightlife, performance culture, and chosen family—Loyal Garner remains a symbol of generosity, resilience, and aloha. Her voice endures not only in recordings, but in the collective memory of audiences who heard their own lives, joys, and struggles reflected in her songs.
Loyal Garner on Hot Hawaiian Nights - 1993 - King Broadcasting Company
Honolulu Advertiser, November 2, 2001
Additional Background Sources:
Singing Songs of Pile Drives and Love - Honolulu Star-Bulletin, September 30, 1974
Loyal Garner - Bundle of Talent - Honolulu Star-Bulletin, October 4, 1974
Local Stars Lend a Hand - Honolulu Star-Bulletin, August 25, 1975
Loyal Garner, A Lady With Soul - Honolulu Advertiser, May 8, 1976
Island Performers Popularize History - Honolulu Star-Bulletin, February 20, 1979
All You Loval Fans - Honolulu Star-Bulletin, May 31, 1981
Entertainer Garyner Was Loyal to Two Guys - Honolulu Star-Bulletin, February 14, 1993
Kaneohe Mall concert to Aid Lady of Love in Cancer Fight - Honolulu Star-Bulletin, September 17, 2001
Benefit Helps Loyal Garner In Her Fight Against Cancer - Honolulu Star-Bulletin, October 5, 2001
Local Divas Gather to Celebrate holiday Season, Loyal Garner - Honolulu Advertiser, October 29, 2001
Loyal Garner, 55, Dies - Honolulu Star-Bulletin, November 16, 2001
Loyal and Lovely Until the End - Honolulu Star-Bulletin, November 18, 2001
Divas to Perform at Garner Funeral - Honolulu Advertiser, November 20, 2001
Lady of Love Loyal Garner Services Set - Honolulu Star-Bulletin, November 24, 2001
Lady of Love Touched Many Hearts - November 26, 2001, Honolulu Advertiser
Family, Friends Remember Hawaii’s Lady of Love - Honolulu Star-Bulletin, November 27, 2001
Loyal Divas - Honolulu Star-Bulletin, November 27, 2001
Notice to Creditors of the Trust and Estate of Loyal Ethyl Piilani Garner, Deceased - Honolulu Star-Bulletin, April 2, 2002
DeSoto Brown - Hawaiian Community Historian and Collections Manager of the Bishop Museum Archives. Descended from 19th century Hawaiian historian and writer John Papa I'i, DeSoto surrounds himself with personal and political possessions from Hawaiian Ali'i, as well as stacks of other materials representing Hawai‘i's cultural and natural history. See DeSoto Brown on PBS Hawai’i’s Long Story Short with Leslie Wilcox.